Britain, Beautiful, Interesting and Sometimes Strange

Untitled image in Shrugborough Hall (29256)

Untitled image in Shrugborough Hall (29263)

Untitled image in Shrugborough Hall (29265)

External view 30th July 2017.The castle's origins date back to the 11th Century and has remained within the Berkeley family since they reconstructed it in the 12th century, except for a period of royal ownership by the Tudors. It is traditionally believed to have been the scene of the murder of King Edward II in 1327.

View from Castle 30th July 2017.

St.Mary's Church 30th July 2017.

Untitled image in Brockham Bonfire, 3rd November 2012. (28900)

Untitled image in Brockham Bonfire, 3rd November 2012. (28904)

Untitled image in Brockham Bonfire, 3rd November 2012. (28895)

Derbyshire Peak District near Litton 1st August 2019.

Weymouth Harbour,25th September 2020.

The Kennet and Avon Canal between Crofton and Great Bedwyn, 12th July 2020.

The history of the plague in the village began in 1665 when a flea-infested bundle of cloth arrived from London for the local tailor.Within a week his assistant George Vicars was dead and more began dying in the household soon after. As the disease spread, the villagers turned for leadership to their rector, the Reverend William Mompesson, and the Puritan Minister Thomas Stanley. These introduced a number of precautions to slow the spread of the illness from May 1666. They included the arrangement that families were to bury their own dead and relocation of church services to the natural amphitheatre of Cucklett Delph, allowing villagers to separate themselves and so reducing the risk of infection.

Great Chalfield Manor 14th July 2019.

Mottisfont,8th June 2019.

Untitled image in Miscellaneous photographs from around the British Isles (Gallery Nine) -Views of Lacock Abbey & its surrounds. (26762)

Untitled image in Miscellaneous photographs from around the British Isles (Gallery Nine) -Views of Lacock Abbey & its surrounds. (26775)

Untitled image in Miscellaneous photographs from around the British Isles (Gallery Nine) -Views of Lacock Abbey & its surrounds. (26760)

Untitled image in A Visit to Salisbury - 10th July 2018. (25491)

Untitled image in A Visit to Salisbury - 10th July 2018. (25490)

Untitled image in A Visit to Salisbury - 10th July 2018. (25493)

Kennet and Avon Canal.Scenes near the bottom of the Caen Hill lock flight West of Devizes,Wiltshire.28th March 2017.The 29 locks have a rise of 237 feet in 2 miles (72 m in 3.2 km) or a 1 in 44 gradient. The locks come in three groups. The lower seven locks, Foxhangers Wharf Lock to Foxhangers Bridge Lock, are spread over 1.2 km. The next sixteen locks form a steep flight in a straight line up the hillside. Because of the steepness of the terrain, the pounds between these locks are very short. As a result, 15 locks have unusually large sideways-extended pounds, to store the water needed to operate them. A final six locks take the canal into Devizes. This flight of locks was engineer John Rennie's solution to climbing the very steep hill, and was the last part of the 87 mile route of the canal to be completed. Whilst the locks were under construction a tramroad provided a link between the canal at Foxhangers to Devizes, the remains of which can be seen in the towpath arches in the road bridges over the canal.

Snowdrops at Welford Park,22nd February 2018.

A woodland walk on the Bowood Estate near Chippenham,Wiltshire.4th May 2018.

Untitled image in Kew Gardens at Christmas. (22377)

Untitled image in Kew Gardens at Christmas. (22404)

Palm House 18th December 2016.

Little is known of the early history of the site. Some Roman stones have been found there, but there is no definite evidence that it was occupied by the Romans. The Priory was founded early in the 7th century, perhaps by Edwin of Northumbria. In 651 Oswin, king of Deira was murdered by the soldiers of King Oswiu of Bernicia, and subsequently his body was brought to Tynemouth for burial. He became St Oswin and his burial place became a shrine visited by pilgrims. He was the first of the three kings buried at Tynemouth. In 792 Osred II, who had been king of Northumbria from 789 to 790 and then deposed, was murdered. He also was buried at Tynemouth Priory. Osred was the second of the three kings buried at Tynemouth. The third king to be buried at Tynemouth was Malcolm III, king of Scotland, who was killed at the Battle of Alnwick in 1093.(This is the same Malcolm who appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth.) The king's body was sent north for reburial, in the reign of his son Alexander I,at Dunfermline Abbey.

National Arboretum,Westonbirt,31st October 2016.

National Arboretum,Westonbirt,31st October 2016.